U.S. Stocks Plummet as Trading Resumes
Without Big Hitches After Terrorist Attack

A Wall Street Journal News Roundup

Updated Sept. 18, 2001 9:49 a.m. ET

It was bad, but it could have been worse.

On an emotional first day of trading, after a terrorist attack that led to a four-day closure, stocks fell sharply, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbling 7.13% and the Nasdaq Composite Index dropping 6.83% from their closes on Monday, Sept. 10.

But while the declines were steeper than many had hoped for, they weren't the apocalyptic plunges that some had feared. As thousands of...